By Donald Wittkowski
Sea Isle City is planning to spend $5.5 million in 2019 for a series of capital improvements to the beaches, bayfront, roads, drainage systems and other parts of town.
Big-ticket items in the capital plan include a new fishing pier and kayak launch site on the bayfront and more of the popular Mobi-Mats to make it easier for beachgoers to walk across the sand.
Last summer, Mobi-Mats were being placed on the beaches at intervals of about every three blocks between 29th and 91st streets. Those locations were in addition to the Mobi-Mats on the city’s handicap-accessible beaches at 32nd Street, 40th Street, John F. Kennedy Boulevard, 44th Street, 63rd Street and 85th Street.
Under the 2019 capital plan, the city will spend $100,000 to buy more Mobi-Mats as it moves toward the ultimate goal of having them at every beach block along the entire 4.5-mile shoreline, Sea Isle Business Administrator George Savastano said.
The mats make it easier for everyone – especially senior citizens or people with disabilities – to enjoy the beaches without having to trudge all the way through the thick, powdery sand.
The non-slip mobility mats look like bright blue carpet strips from a distance. They lie on top of the sand, providing an easier transition from the gravel pathways over the dunes to the beaches.
Sea Isle’s 2019 capital plan also includes a major project to enhance recreation along the bayfront – a new fishing pier and kayak launch site.
The city has included $1 million in the capital plan to pay for the upfront costs for the project. However, the Cape May County Open Space Board has endorsed a $935,605 grant for the project. The county would reimburse Sea Isle once the grant is given final approval, Savastano said.
Sea Isle gave the public its first glimpse of what the project will look like when it unveiled an architectural rendering in October during a City Council meeting.
Expected to open in late 2019, the fishing pier and kayak launch site will be built along the water’s edge behind the city’s Dealy Field athletic and recreation complex near 60th Street. Parking is already available at the site.
The boardwalk-style structure will extend 132 feet out into the bay. The center section will serve as the fishing pier. Another part will branch off for a “passive pier” featuring a covered pavilion. There will also be a dock for a handicap-accessible launch facility for kayaks and paddleboards.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio envisions the passive pier as a quiet location for nature lovers to enjoy the wildlife, bayfront views and sunsets. He also believes it will be the setting for an occasional marriage proposal.
Additionally, the new site will have kayak storage racks, which will be an extra convenience for those who are eager to paddle on the bay.
Crowded with upscale homes, Sea Isle’s bayfront offers few places where kayakers, paddleboarders and anglers have public access to the water. The new project will give the public a prime location to enjoy the back bays.
In another bayfront project, the capital plan calls for $1 million in spending in 2019 to dredge some of the shallow lagoons. The city’s Municipal Marina along 42nd Place and the bayfront at the Yacht Club of Sea Isle City are two primary areas scheduled for dredging, Savastano said.
He noted that the city will also work with homeowners on Venicean Road and the bay end of 38th Street to get their private boat slips dredged. The homeowners would pay for their boat slips, but would be able to save money by piggybacking on the city’s dredging project, Savastano said.
The capital plan also includes a series of drainage and road improvements scattered across town to reduce flooding on the low-lying barrier island. Altogether, the city plans to spend $2.4 million on road and drainage construction next year.
Savastano said the flood-mitigation projects will include a new pumping station for the area around 46th Street. Pumping stations are able to remove stormwater off the streets faster once flooding occurs.
A newly completed flood-mitigation study recommends that Sea Isle should build more pumping stations in neighborhoods vulnerable to stormwater. In all, there are 10 areas that are seen as strong candidates for pumping stations. Since eight of those areas are part of the county-controlled drainage system, the city plans to work with the county on funding for more pumping stations, Savastano said.
The capital plan also includes an assortment of maintenance projects, city equipment and new vehicles, including a $225,000 trash truck and a $336,000 ambulance that would be purchased in 2019.
At this point, no money has been approved for the projects in the 2019 capital plan. City Council is expected to endorse the plan at its meeting on Tuesday and then will follow up by approving a funding ordinance early in 2019 to finance the projects, Savastano explained.
The 2019 projects are part of a five-year capital plan running through 2023. The $27.2 million five-year plan is a broad blueprint for projects that Sea Isle hopes to undertake in coming years.
“This is just a plan. It doesn’t appropriate any money,” Savastano said of the five-year capital plan.
One notable project proposed in 2020 is the possible renovation of Sea Isle’s former public school into a community recreation center.
The city is still discussing whether the old school on Park Road should be renovated or possibly demolished for an all-new recreation center. The capital plan proposes $1.5 million for the project in 2020, which might be enough money for renovations, but certainly would be well short of the cost for building a new recreation center, Savastano said.
Also proposed in 2020, the city is exploring sites for a dog park. One possible location for the dog park is Fifth Street, near an area currently used as a testing facility for paint chips in the salt air, Savastano said. The capital plan proposes spending $100,000 to build the dog park in 2020.
In addition to the total of $5.5 million in capital projects that are proposed in 2019, Sea Isle is also planning to spend $1.8 million for improvements to the water and sewer system next year. Upgrades would include $1 million to improve sewer lines that have become deteriorated.
